Chapter 34. Dead

Lotus’s POV

The courtyard is slick with snow. My boots slide across the stones. Lennox insisted on training me outside, so I can become accustomed to the elements. My breath streams in the air, and I roll my shoulders. A wooden practice blade is clutched in my hands, but it feels wrong. It is too heavy, too clumsy, but I refuse to let him see it.

He circles around me like a predator. The smirk on his face tells me that he thinks he has already won. My eyes linger on his bare arms, muscles flexing with each step. His eyes are sharp today, more than usual. Maybe it is because I forced him to promise not to leave me behind again.

“Hold it higher,” he commands me. “You are leaving your chest wide open.”

I grit my teeth and lift the blade. “Like this?”

His mouth twitches, not quite a smile. “Better. But still wrong.”

Before I can ask what he means, he lunges. The tip of his practice sword presses into my sternum, light but firm. I gasp, stumblin